Budget cut woes leave military, families uncertain

Sailors man the rails aboard the guided -missile destroyer USS Barry as the ship departs the Norfolk Naval Station, Thursday morning, Feb. 7, 2013 for a 6-month deployment. The USS Barry has deployed to Europe to protect U.S. allies from ballistic missiles.

Associated Press

Summary

With family members waving from a pier, sailors aboard a Navy destroyer left for an overseas mission with more uncertainty than ever about their homecoming as potentially massive budget cuts reshape military plans.

NORFOLK, Va. — With family members waving from a pier, sailors aboard a Navy destroyer left for an overseas mission with more uncertainty than ever about their homecoming as potentially massive budget cuts reshape military plans.

The political hick-hack in Congress over the budget is having real-life consequences for service members in the Navy and maybe soon in other branches. It comes at a time when some military families were getting used to deployments coming back down to normal lengths after more than a decade of two wars, when the Pentagon routinely extended the time forces stayed in the field.

The guided-missile destroyer USS Barry headed out Thursday for what was supposed to be a six-month deployment in Europe as part of a NATO plan to provide a ballistic-missile shield for the continent. The Navy has warned that tours like this one could be extended for unspecified periods after billions of dollars in automatic spending cuts known as sequestration take place March 1, unless Congress acts to avert them.

Among the military impacts, the Navy has said the cuts will mean less money for training and maintenance and that it could take longer to prepare crews to deploy as a result. The Navy has said that it would also deploy fewer ships to fewer places and that those that are sent out could spend longer stints at sea with fewer port calls to boost morale.

The possibility of extended deployments adds to the uncertainty that already accompanies military families.

"Even before the budget cuts and everything, you never have a set time that they're going to be home. I mean, they have a date, but that can always change so you always have that little bit of a worry that it's going to be longer than you think," said Robin Lunsford, whose husband Robert is an electronics technician aboard the Barry.

It's not just a concern for sailors, but for Marines, soldiers and airmen who continually deploy around the globe.

"If the military because of budget issues downsizes too much, does that mean that the fewer people who are left are going to have to deploy more?" asked Joyce Raezer, executive director at the National Military Family Association. "That's a real concern in the military community."

Many Navy tours crept up to seven or eight months from the typical six months while the Iraq war raged, with ships dotting the nearby waters to supply all kinds of support, from hosting warplanes to maintaining floating hospitals. The Army, the largest force on the ground in the wars, upped tour lengths in Iraq to 15 months from a year for the troop surge in 2007 to combat escalating violence.

The toll that extended and repeated deployments can take on sailors and their families isn't lost on Navy leaders. They created an expansive wellness campaign last year that targets alcohol abuse, among other problems, that they were concerned after a decade of war.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the campaign during an all-hands call aboard the USS Bataan. The amphibious transports Marines that had recently completed the longest deployment for a Navy ship in nearly 40 years — at more than 10 months. At the time, he noted that the operational pace for the Navy and the Marines wasn't expected to slow down as the military shifted its focus to the Pacific.

There's also concern in the military community about how the cuts could affect programs meant to assist military families.

"I think a lot of our worry is access to some of the support services, whether it is counseling programs for kids, or programs to help families who are dealing with deployments, or programs that help military spouses find jobs when they move to a new community," Raezer said.

She said the services and programs that families depend on are staffed by federal employees who work for the military services, who have already been told to expect furloughs starting in March.

Popular Comments

We will ALL need to be ready to tighten our belts. Things are going to become
rough for every American if Congress ever finds the gumption to act.

Now it will be very interesting to see how loudly those who have been
screaming for budget
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9:27 a.m. Feb. 8, 2013

Top comment

worf

Mcallen, TX

Some questions:

* wouldn't it be better, spending money on
something which provides jobs, then on welfare which doesn't?

*
take some of the billions we give away to other countries, and use it for our
defense, and
More..

8:28 a.m. Feb. 8, 2013

Top comment

Dont Tread

Iron County, UT

We can provide F16s to the Muslim Brotherhood, but we can't provide basic
needs to our own Sailors. We can provide a free welfare check for two years
with no work requirement, but we can't replace the outdated and 50 year old
M16 family of
More..